


Eventide

by clockwork_worm



Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, NaNoWriMo Fail 2019
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:35:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 7,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24763210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clockwork_worm/pseuds/clockwork_worm
Summary: Twilight edit notes, version 2.0:-Removed the glitch that made the vampires sparkle-Made the love triangle the GOOD kind of love triangle-Removed HerobrineIn all seriousness, I was a huge fan of this series when I was a teen (just saying that makes me feel old, dear lord), and now that I know better I decided to see if I could re-write Twilight and make it less..... bad. I started this for NaNoWriMo before realizing that what I had planned wouldn't reach the word count and losing all motivation. Now, 7 months later, I've come back to it, and mostly finished it! I'll be posting regularly until its done (in theory). I hope you enjoy!
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Original Female Character(s), Carlisle Cullen/Charlie Swan, Edythe Cullen/Bella Swan, Edythe Cullen/Bella Swan/Jacob Black, Emmett Cullen/Original Non-binary Character, Jacob Black/Bella Swan
Comments: 1
Kudos: 36





	1. Twilight (Part 1)

A heavy wind nearly slammed Bella’s mom’s car door shut on her as Bella tried to get out to take a first look at the campus she’d call home for the next couple of years. It was gorgeous, she admitted to herself, although it would probably look better if there wasn’t a gloomy cloud cover.

From what she’d been told, it was almost always like this. She zipped up her light sweat-jacket and grabbed her first bag out of the trunk.

“It’s just as bad as I remembered,” her mom groaned as she got out and looked up at the sky. “Are you sure about this, honey? Florida has some good campuses as well, you know.” 

She did know, but as she’d explained to her mother many times already, the tuition was far too high. There was one plus side to having a father who you’d never met in person as the president of a far away college--when you ask about tuition for his school, he enthusiastically agrees to cover it. 

He’d been suspiciously silent about helping pay for college until then. That was why Bella had gone to a community college for the first couple years of school. Her mother’s artist salary would have never been able to cover a full four years of university, and with Bella’s desire to be a writer, she knew that student loans weren’t really going to be a good option. 

Now she’d get to join her in-major peers a year late. Great. She just hoped they were open to new people; moving around a lot as a kid had taught her that the smaller the class, the less likely they were to welcome strangers. 

“I’ll be fine, Mom,” she said, realizing she’d been silent for far too long. “I always have been.” That was enough to assuage her for now, although Bella knew that the question would be repeated as they unpacked her stuff into her new dorm room, and there would be tears later. She and her mom had only had each other for the first 19 years of her life. 

There was a table underneath the awning of her dorm hall. A handsome, baby-faced Black guy sat behind it with a radiant smile, and he waved as Bella approached.

“Welcome!” He said. “I’m Jacob Black, one of the RAs for Wilson Hall. What’s your name?”

“Isabella, but I prefer Bella.” 

“Wonderful. Last name?”

“Er, Swan.” Bella watched a wave of recognition wash over his face, but he quickly replaced it with another easy-going smile. 

“Just in luck, you’re on my floor! Welcome.” He pulled out a set of keys and handed them to her. 

“Thanks.” She tucked them in a pocket and held the door for her mother, who had carried far more things at once than was recommended.

She was pleasantly surprised to discover that her roommate had not yet arrived, so she claimed the bed and desk by the window. She hadn’t met her roommate yet, but had talked to her over text. She was a blonde, model-beautiful freshman in environmental science that Bella was pretty sure was only at college to party. At least she’d be out of the dorm most of the time; Bella liked her solitude and she worried having a roommate was going to severely hinder that. 

She was on the third floor, and the window looked out into the canopy of a massive tree just outside. She opened the window to let the breeze in. 

“I always forget how tiny dorm rooms are,” Her mom said. “Are you sure this will be enough space?”

“I’ll be okay, Mom.” Bella propped the door open. “Let’s get the rest of my stuff in.”

It took a few trips up and down the elevator, but finally Bella’s possessions were all piled into the room. Bella’s mom wrung her hands, unwilling to leave.

“Do you want me to help you unpack?”

“I don’t want you to start driving too late.” Bella crossed the room and hugged her mother. The height distance between the two of them was uncomfortably obvious: Bella had grown to a frustrating nothing-ever-fits-me six feet tall while her mother stood at five foot one. Bella was fairly sure she'd gotten her height from her father. 

As predicted, when she pulled away Bella saw that her mom was crying. 

“Call me every day. Or at least every week.”

“I will,” Bella promised. Her mom grabbed her purse and left, still sniffling. 

Bella already missed her. She turned on a playlist of her mom’s favorite songs and began unpacking. It wasn’t long until there was a knock on her open door frame.

“Hey, just wanted to make sure you were moving in okay,” Jacob said. 

“Uh, yeah. I just wish it was less cramped in here.” She looked around at the cluttered mess.

“You know, you can put your dresser inside your closet, and that will give you more floor space. Want some help?”

Bella nodded, and Jacob bounded inside to help. The dresser was heavy, and even with him helping it took a lot of sliding, shifting, sweating and swearing to hoist the dresser up into the closet. Afterwards, he helped her loft her bed and put the desk under it. The room already felt bigger.

“Well, I need to go check on everyone else. Let me know if you need me, okay? I’m in room 323, and my phone number is on the door if I’m not there.”

“Thanks.” Bella smiled at him and he returned the grin before disappearing. She wondered if he ever ran out of energy. At least he hadn’t brought up her father, that she was grateful for, but she was sure that it would eventually come up. They were the only Swans on this campus, after all. 


	2. Twilight (Part 2)

Jessica showed up late the next morning as Bella finished unpacking her stuff. She came into the room with a group of friends (how had she made so many friends already?), all helping her move in, and turned down Bella’s offer of help. So instead, Bella grabbed her earbuds and her list of classes to try to find the buildings ahead of time before classes started the next day. As she walked down the hall, she bumped into Jacob as he came out of his room.

“Oh geez, sorry!” He said, picking up her phone that she’d dropped in shock. “Where are ya headed?”

“I’m going to go find the buildings my classes are at,” she said, waving the schedule, a bit embarrassed by the new-girl move. She hoped he’d leave her alone so she could listen to a podcast and take a nice walk by herself.

“Cool! I know the campus like the back of my hand. Do you want some help?”

His eager expression wore her down quickly, and she handed him the schedule. “Sure.” 

It didn’t take them long to find all of the buildings, Bella was relieved to discover that they were all fairly close together. Jacob gave an enthusiastic, backwards-walking tour of the campus as they walked, and Bella found herself enjoying his company despite her initial desire to explore alone.

“I’m starved!” Jacob exclaimed as they finished up. “Wanna get lunch with me?”

Bella hadn’t yet gone to any of the dining halls on campus. She’d eaten snacks while unpacking last night, and thrown a pop-tart in the microwave for breakfast. “Fine with me.”

The food at the dining hall was bland, but it was better than what she could scrounge together in her dorm. Jacob talked constantly in between bites about his first year on campus and any and every tip he had that came to his mind. 

When they cleaned up, he glanced at her almost shyly and said, “Hey, we’ve got a break at the same time Monday-Wednesday-Friday… want to get lunch together?”

Not having to eat alone in the dining halls sounded like a wonderful plan. “I’d love that,” Bella said, and his radiant smile returned. 

“Perfect.”

Bella noticed, with amusement, that there was an extra pep in his step as they walked back to their dorm. She was fairly sure that he had been flirting with her, although she wasn’t sure why. She didn’t mind, though. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy to get too terrible if she said no, and she liked his company in the mean-time. She wasn’t ready for a relationship this early into the semester, and dating her RA seemed like a breach of some sort of rule. 

“So, Swan,” He said slowly, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Any relation to Charlie Swan?”

 _Here we go._ “I’m his daughter. Barely.” Bella picked at her nails. 

“Barely?”

“He and my mom had a big falling out when I was a kid, and she moved as far away as she could. I haven’t actually talked to him since, except to find out if he’d cover tuition if I was going to his school. He never made an effort to stay connected.”

“Yikes. That sucks. Sorry I brought it up.” 

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not. I’m sure the last thing you want while going here is to be constantly reminded about him.”

“I mean, yeah. Nearly changed my last name before I came here, but then I would’ve had to tell him about it and I didn’t want to risk losing tuition over something so silly.” 

Jacob squeezed her shoulder. “I won’t bring him up again, then.”

“Thanks.” Bella turned away a bit to hide her embarrassment as they took the stairs. Jacob walked with her in silence until they reached her dorm room.

“This is your stop. Let me know if you need anything, okay?” 

“Thanks, Jake. I mean it.”

Jacob’s brow furrowed. “Jake?”

“Oh, fuck, sorry. Is it okay if I call you that?”

Jacob ruffled his hair in embarrassment and grinned. “Yeah, just caught me off guard, that’s all. See ya tomorrow?”

“See you!” Bella entered her room, feeling lighter than she had before she left. Maybe college wouldn’t be as lonely as she’d thought. 


	3. First Light (Part 1)

Bella had a hard time sleeping that night, anxiety about missing her first class (an 8am, unfortunately) keeping her up. When she finally did sleep, it felt like only seconds before her alarm woke her up again. She shut it off quickly to avoid waking up Jessica, who didn’t have class until noon, and got ready in the dark. 

Her first class was Advanced Shakespeare Lit, in a small auditorium. She sat down in the second row and pulled out a notebook. 

She’d come early, but as the clock ticked closer to 8 the room began to fill up. Bella had never been in a class this large, but she was fortunate to have an open seat next to her so she spread out her things. At 8, the professor, who was a small white woman with poofy, curly blonde hair and too-large, bright purple glasses, clapped her hands to get everyone's attention and started her class.

A couple people walked in late, but the enthusiastic professor never stopped talking. That was, at least, until the most beautiful woman Bella had ever seen walked into the room, precisely two minutes late. 

She was Indian, with shining brown hair cascading down her back. But what really entranced Bella was her eyes--they were a radiant golden brown. She had to be wearing contacts. 

“Anyone, uh, have an open seat next to them?” The professor squeaked, breaking the silence that had followed the woman in. The woman smirked. Bella raised her hand and cleared the space next to her. 

The strange woman walked down the row to her, and then paused, only a few feet away from Bella. Bella hadn’t expected someone with such a perfect face to be able to show the emotion she seemed to be showing now--shock? Disgust? Fear? Whatever it was, in a flash the woman had moved away from her, sliding past seats easily to go to the farthest corner from Bella, where there was one open seat. A strong smell of sunscreen and perfume followed her, even though the woman was wearing long sleeves and the sun had barely peeked out from behind the clouds this morning. 

She’d been heading towards Bella, for sure. Any focus Bella had had on the professor was gone. What had caused her to go out of her way to get to another seat?

She was pulled out of her thoughts when the professor moved away from her discussion of the syllabus to talk about their first project.

“You’ll be in pairs, randomly assigned,” she said, clapping her hands excitedly. “You’ll be given some of the most famous passages of Shakespeare to perform together. I am a firm believer that Shakespeare isn’t supposed to be read-it’s supposed to be performed. Here’s the list of pairs, along with your pictures. Please find your partner now and get their contact info before you leave.”

Bella knew who her partner was going to be before she even looked at the screen. She could feel a pair of golden-brown eyes boring into the back of her head. Sure enough, her photo and name were right next to the woman’s picture and the name “Edythe Cullen". 

Great. Her heart picked up its pace and she resignedly grabbed her stuff to head over to Edythe’s seat, only to find that Edythe was making her way towards her already. 

“Here’s my phone number.” Edythe handed her a piece of paper.

“Uh, thanks.” Bella stared at the paper. Every repeating number was written the exact same way, as if it had been typed. 

Edythe looked away from her, took a breath, and said, “See you later.” Before Bella could respond she was gone, leaving Bella staring at empty air. 


	4. First Light (Part 2)

_Edythe spent the night before the first day of classes pacing back and forth in her room, unable to get her mind to stop running in circles. Her classes this semester would be the first time she was spending around humans alone since she’d returned to the Cullens. It was great that Carlisle finally trusted her again, but still--she wasn’t sure the trust was warranted._

_What if she lost it? What if she slaughtered an entire classroom when someone got a paper-cut? But as Carlisle had said to her over and over, there was only one way to find out. Take the leap. Believe in yourself._

_So when the time on her phone said 7:45, she grabbed her things and headed out. After two minutes of sitting paralyzed with fear in her car, she was officially running late. Great way to start off the semester._

_The professor, as predicted, lost all train of thought when she walked in the room. Edythe just hoped that the poor woman would be able to teach with her there. Most of the seats in the auditorium were taken, but a Middle-Eastern girl in the second row raised her hand to show her an open seat._

_But when Edythe got near her, she took in her first breath in the room and realized her mistake. The girl was tall, beautiful, anxiously playing with a curl that had fallen over one shoulder. Her eyes were a warm brown. And she smelled better than any other human Edythe had ever met._

_Edythe barely realized that she’d passed the open seat, holding her breath. She’d seen another seat in the back corner of the room. Hopefully it would be far enough away from the girl that she wouldn’t be able to smell her. When she was finally calm, she tried to find the girl’s mind, hoping that her actions hadn’t seemed too odd. But…_

_She could find it, but it was as if there was a wall around her mind. It was perfectly impenetrable too, unlike the walls she’d felt that had been put up by witches. Edythe couldn’t even get a sense of a thought._

_Trying to do so gave her a headache, so she stopped and instead let the din of the thoughts in the room distract her from what had happened. She’d been warned that attraction to someone would cause that sort of… reaction, but she hadn’t expected it to happen so suddenly or so strongly. She pulled out her laptop to see if she could switch sections, but this was the only one that worked with her schedule. Fuck. The guy next to her was thinking about having sex with her. Even better. She considered eating him. That took her mind off of the girl, but not in the safest of ways._

_And then, she realized that the professor kept thinking about her face and the girl’s face next to each other. Over and over. With a tinge of worry. Edythe hadn’t been subtle at all about avoiding her. Great._

_When she got to the end of her lecture, the professor's worry suddenly made sense. She’d put the class into partners to read, and Edythe and the girl--Bella--were partners. Fan-fucking-tastic. Sorry Carlisle! Can’t do college, actually. Need to leave before I kill this poor girl._

_Despite her fears, Edythe walked over to her, without breathing. Bella was tall, like she thought. Edythe’s eyes were at her neck height. She handed her her phone number, said a few words to her, and then bolted. Bella made it out unscathed._

_Maybe she could do this college thing after all. She needed to be way closer to full to deal with Bella, though, or else things would really turn south. Carlisle wasn’t going to give her another chance._


	5. First Light (Part 3)

Bella barely paid attention as she walked to her next class, Intro to Art History, and sat down, her mind still on the exchange. It felt like those odd colored eyes had left an imprint on her vision. The piece of paper smelled faintly of sunscreen--did Edythe bathe in the stuff? Why did she turn away from her to breathe? She excused herself to go to the bathroom just to make sure she didn’t smell (she didn’t, as far as she could tell). 

The class flew by without Bella absorbing any of the information that was given to her. She was still so stunned by the exchange that it took her a second to remember why Jacob would be sitting outside of the building, waiting for her. 

“Hey! How were your first classes?” He said, bounding over to her.

“Alright.” She looked out over the quad, as if Edythe would somehow appear. She still hadn’t figured out what had happened.

“Earth to Bells,” Jacob said, waving his hand in front of her face. 

“Sorry. Lunch?”

“Yeah, are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, but…” she quickly explained what had happened in her first class.

“Oh, you met a Cullen. That makes sense.” Jacob smirked. 

“What does that mean?”

“I’ll explain it to you over lunch.” 

Over their cardboard pizza, Jacob opened up Facebook and slid his phone across the table to Bella. A Facebook page for a fraternity was open--Kappa Lambda Nu. Edythe stood in a small group of equally beautiful people. 

“A lot of them have the same last name, Cullen, but none of them look related. Maybe they're all adopted by someone, but who adopts that many kids all the same age who end up at the same college together? They insist they’re an academic frat, but they've never have any sort of rush.” Jacob leaned in and whispered loudly. “Most people are pretty sure that it's a cult.” 

“Huh.” Bella sat back in her chair, absorbing this new information. That would explain why Edythe acted so strangely. 

“It started with Carlisle, and when he became a hotshot teacher at the medical school he bought the house for his… friends? Family? Cult that all moved here in the past couple of years. Some of them are friendly, -ish. Alice even has a girlfriend not in KLN. But none of them go to parties, or join any other clubs. And Edythe… she’s new. No one has even really spoken to her yet, as far as I know.”

“How do you know so much about them?”

“They’re sort of the campus mystery. Some campuses have ghosts, we have a cult.” He shrugged. “Also, I’m a journalism major. I’m far too curious for my own good.”

Bella poked at her pizza. “I just hope she contributes to this project.”

“She will. From what I can tell, she and the rest of them are wicked smart.” He took a huge bite of pizza. “And hey, even if she doesn’t, this isn’t high school. Tell your professor and she’ll fail her,” he added.

“Ew, Jake, don’t talk with food in your mouth,” Bella chided him, but he just rolled his eyes. She was shocked to realize how easy it is to talk with him, as if they’ve been friends for years, and hid her expression behind a sip from her water bottle.

Jacob glanced at the time on his phone and cursed loudly enough that a couple people around them turned to look. “I’ve got to get to class. See you later?”

“See you!” With that, Jacob dashed out of the dining hall. Bella threw out her trash and collected her stuff, and found her way to the library.

She opened up her laptop to review what she’d missed in art history, but ended up on Facebook instead, looking at the page for Kappa Lambda Nu. Edythe was tagged in the photo.

*Hey, it’s Bella.* Bella sent a quick text to Edythe before sending her a friend request. Hopefully that would make it seem less creepy and not like she was trying to stalk her profile (which she was). 

Edythe didn’t accept the friend request, or reply while Bella was in the library, and was still silent during Bella’s French class, where she snuck glances at her phone under her desk, or at all that afternoon. Bella started writing out what she’d email to her professor if the girl ghosted her. But while Bella ate dinner in her room, Edythe sent her a text.

*Let’s meet Thursday evening to start on the assignment.*

Bella fumbled with her phone in her haste to respond. *Great! Where do you want to meet?*

*Marketplace West.*

A dining hall. That was odd. *Alright, see you at 6pm?*

*Sure.* Edythe still didn’t accept the friend request. Bella decided that she probably wasn’t very active on Facebook (who is these days?), and figured that maybe she’d imagined the strange interaction. 


	6. First Light (Part 4)

Bella walked into her afternoon class that day after an uneventful morning, and was face-to-face with another Cullen. It was Alice, the girl who Jacob had mentioned as one of the friendlier members. She was Mexican, and was short and chubby with a purple streak in her hair and black lipstick. 

The most noticeable thing about her was her eyes, a similar golden color to Edythe’s. Bella decided that they must be contacts. What kind of frat wears matching contacts? She was just as gorgeous as Edythe, too.

All of the seats around her were empty; but Bella thought she looked nice enough and sat down next to her.

“Hi! I’m Alice.” 

“Bella.” Alice smelled like sunscreen, too. Maybe the frat was just really anti-skin cancer.   
“Oh! Bella! Edythe’s partner for Shakespeare?”

“Uh… yeah.” Was Edythe talking about her?

“Cool. I see what she meant about you.” Before Bella could ask what that meant, she continued on. “What’s your major?”

“Creative writing.”

“Same! Wonderful.” She clapped her hands together happily.

Bella started to ask her something else, hoping to learn more about Edythe, but the class began. When the professor announced that they’d be in groups to read each other’s pieces, Alice immediately chose Bella and a couple other incredibly reluctant people. Bella left the class feeling almost dizzy: Alice spoke quickly and often said strange things before moving on like nothing had happened. Trying to keep up with her was like throwing darts at the ball in a tennis match. 

Her phone buzzed as she walked back from class. It was a text from her father.

*Are you free for dinner this evening?*

She stared at the words. Charlie had never tried to meet with her in person, her entire life. Her mom wouldn’t tell her why they’d broken up when Bella was a toddler, and she’d get upset if Bella pushed too hard. He couldn’t be too bad of a guy, though, if he’d managed to stay president for so long. Right?

And he had helped her get into college. She sent a text back. *Sure.*

The response was immediate. *Great! I’ll pick you up from your dorm at 6.*


	7. First Light (Part 5)

_Alice was suspiciously interested in the girl from Edythe’s class. Apparently, she was in her class as well._

_“Can you stop chattering for two seconds?” Edythe finally snapped. “I’m trying to hunt, here.”_

_She and Alice had taken a trip that night to the national park nearby to the campus to track down some food. Especially since Edythe had to meet Bella the next day, she knew she needed to be at her most controlled._

_“Sorry,” Alice mumbled. Her out-loud chattering stopped, but her mind was still on Bella. Thankfully, Edythe had had to get used to tuning that out pretty early on. Even when quiet, Alice had a tendency to go a mile-a-minute. She took in a deep breath, trying to pinpoint the elk she’d smelled earlier. She finally found it and took off towards it._

_It took her a second to realize that Alice wasn’t behind her, and, more than that, her train of thought had come to a crashing halt. In fact, her mind was static. Edythe knew exactly what that meant. She circled back and found Alice crouched on the ground, holding her head._

_Edythe knelt next to her and put a hand on her shoulder, trying to help ground her to reality. She listened as the static in her mind faded away._

_“What was it?” she asked quietly._

_“New vampire,” Alice panted. “Nothing good.” Her mind showed a series of pictures: a frat house, a blur of drunk girls, a vampire sinking his teeth into one of their necks. And a date: this Friday._

_“There’s nothing we can do,” Edythe said, helping her up. Alice shook her head sadly._

_“I know.” There were vampires hunting people all over the world, and Carlisle hadn’t claimed the university as his territory. Fighting the wrong vampire for a random person could start a war._

_“Let’s just hope he’ll change his mind,” Edythe said. Alice’s thoughts mirrored her own--they both knew that that possibility was unlikely._


	8. First Light (Part 6)

What do you wear to your first-ever dinner with your father? Bella had a few outfits spread out across her desk, but none of them seemed to work. When she was finally running late, she decided on jeans and a men’s button down shirt. 

Charlie was sitting in his car and looking at the time on his watch when she stepped out of the dorm. “Hi, Isabella,” he said gruffly as she got in the car.

“Just Bella.” She folded her hands awkwardly in her lap as he pulled away from the curb.

“Bella. Got it.” 

They drove in silence. Bella noticed that he was wearing a suit and tie--she really hoped she wasn’t underdressed. They pulled into the parking lot of a fancy-ish looking Italian place. The server sat them down at a quiet table for two in the back, and Bella saw with relief that her father was overdressed. 

Charlie cleared his throat. “So, uh, how have classes been?”

“Fine.” Bella tried to focus on the menu, not sure of how to continue the conversation, and to her relief Charlie did the same. For the president of a university, he was awfully awkward. Maybe that was why they’d never met in person.

The food was served quickly, thankfully, and so they ate in silence, but when Charlie was done he cleared his throat again.

“I know I haven’t been a part of your life.”

“Yeah.” 

“I want you to know that it wasn’t for lack of trying.”

This surprised Bella, who had assumed he had just been a deadbeat dad.

“Your mother and I had a disagreement, a long time ago, and she got custody of you.”

“What disagreement?” 

He sighed. “It’s between me and your mother, Bella. It doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

Bella thought about arguing with him about that, but held her tongue and waited for him to continue.

“I want to get to know you, now that you’re here.”

“Okay…” 

“It’s up to you, Isa-- ...Bella, whether or not you want me back in your life. Alright?”

Bella nodded. He paid the bill (in cash, with a huge tip, Bella noticed). 

“I have something for you. I want to let you know, though, that this is for you no matter what you decide.” He led her outside to the parking lot, but didn’t head towards his own car. Instead, he walked to the other side of the lot and unlocked a bright red BMW.

“It’s used, but just barely. You have a parking pass and everything.” He held out the keys to her.

“For me?”

“No, for your cactus.” He snorted and shook the keys.

“Wow, I… thank you.” She took the keys from him. And tried not to cry.

“It’s the absolute least I could do.” He gave her a gentle rub on the shoulder. 

“Let’s do this again.” Bella managed to say. 

“Yeah, let’s do it.” He sounded a bit choked up. “See you around?”

Bella nodded, and he left her staring at the BMW.


	9. First Light (Part 7)

The next day in Shakespeare, Edythe sat in the back of the room again, but she gave an amiable nod in Bella’s direction. Bella wondered if she had Alice to thank for Edythe’s changed behaviour. 

When Jacob met her for lunch, he seemed even bouncier than normal. 

“My old RA, who’s in a frat now, is holding a welcome back party Friday night. Want to come?” 

A frat party. That really didn’t sound like Bella’s idea of a good time. 

“I’ll stay with you the whole time, if you want,” Jacob added, seeing her grimace.

“Yeah, sure. Is it okay if my roommate comes?” It sounded like something Jess would like, and then she’d have a buddy and a way to bond with the person she shared a room with.

“Sure.” He grinned, and Bella couldn’t help but be excited about the party as well. 

It was easy to find Edythe in the dining hall on Thursday. The place was packed, except for a ring of tables around her. She sat on the edge of her seat, less like sitting and more like she was about to move. But she smiled when Bella approached. 

In front of her was a huge bowl of chili, barely touched. The spice tickled Bella’s nose as she sat. 

“Are you ready?” Edythe asked, opening her book. Bella nodded.

“Let’s begin, then.” She paused, for a moment, and then looked up at Bella and read her first line.

_“I wonder that you will still be talking, Signior Benedick: Nobody marks you.”_

The words stung as if Edythe had said them of her own accord. Bella looked at her own book and responded.

_“What, my dear lady Disdain! Are you yet living?”_

Edythe’s eyes narrowed. They continued like this, as if they’d been meant to read those lines to each other, and Bella felt a chill down her spine when Edythe said the words _“I thank God for my cold blood”_ , as bitter as she’d ever heard someone speak. 

They re-read the scene a couple times, each take rounding out the harshness of the first and replacing it with the easy-going banter that the scene was meant to have. After the first, Edythe stopped looking at her book altogether. When they finally finished, she said, in a soft voice, “Let’s do this again Friday evening?”

It took a moment for Bella to pull herself out of the scene. She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry, I’m going to a party. Saturday?”

But Edythe had gone stiff. “A party? Which one?”

“One of my RA’s friend’s frat.” Bella tried to read Edythe’s face. Her eyes were dark. “Why?”

“Don’t go.” She was gripping the edge of the table.

“Why?”

“Just don’t.”

Bella shut her book, irritated. “You can’t just say something like that and not explain.”

Edythe scoffed. “I can and I will. Can't you just trust me?”

“No. We’ve just met.” Bella crossed her arms. Any connection they’d had while reading had been snapped. 

“Fine, then. Go.” Edythe got up and left. To Bella’s annoyance, she left her chili behind.

When Bella grabbed it to put it away, she noticed that the table was splintered where Edythe was sitting. 


	10. Sunhigh (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (SPOILER ALERT, READ ONLY IF YOU WISH TO AVOID THE TRIGGERS FOR THIS CHAPTER)
> 
> Despite Edythe's warning, Bella, Jessica, and Jacob go to the party. Bella begins to enjoy herself, but notices a creepy man with vomit-green eyes canvassing the party. Just as he goes to talk to Jessica, Edythe shows up to check on her. Bella calls Edythe a stalker and leaves to find Jessica, who has disappeared. She notices that the wrist that Edythe grabbed is cold. She hears screaming from the woods and runs towards it to find the creepy man attacking Jessica. Bella tries to stop him but the man is unfazed and injured Bella's arm. Edythe shows up, which scares the man away. Edythe carries Jessica back to the house and calls an ambulance. Jacob sees them and helps Bella the rest of the way to the ambulance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER HAS TRIGGER WARNINGS, PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU CONTINUE:
> 
> (If you do not want to read any of these, feel free to skip the chapter and just read the summary! Every detail needed to continue the story is there.)
> 
> -alcohol  
> -mention of date rape drugs  
> -character peer-pressured into drinking  
> -description of a sexual assault/physical attack

Edythe wasn’t in class on Friday. Bella wasn’t sure how to feel about that. But she decided to push those feelings away and instead focus on what was in front of her: her first college party, going with a boy who was more than excited she was coming. Bella tried to forget how much she hated social gatherings.

Jessica had been ecstatic that Bella invited her. Something about getting to know some of the sororities before rushing? Either way, she spent most of Friday evening deciding on an outfit, and then convincing Bella to wear something more “party appropriate” (her words) than the jeans and t-shirt Bella had worn to class. 

Jacob appeared at their door, keys in hand. He was wearing a floral print button down shirt, and his smile was even more radiant than normal. His enthusiasm was contagious. 

The frat house was just about what Bella was expecting--slightly run down, very lived in by a gaggle of incredibly loud (and already incredibly drunk) boys. It smelled like cologne and body odor. She decided right away that she wouldn’t be trying the jungle juice, although Jessica went for it when a group of sorority girls convinced her to. Bella stuck to the safe-definitely-untampered cans of bad beer, and kept to the edges of the room. Jacob occasionally found her and pulled her into discussions or dancing, which she enjoyed, but he seemed to know every person in the room well and would get distracted, leaving her behind no matter how much effort he put into including her. So instead of following him around like a lost puppy, Bella kept more or less to herself, watching the crowd with what she hoped was an aloof expression. She prayed to whatever god was listening that no guy would come over to talk to her. Jessica had dressed her up as a straight girl. Not that she wasn’t attracted to boys, she was, but she really didn’t want drunk frat guys to know that. 

Speaking of, Jessica was getting drunk, quickly. She hung a little bit on to her new sorority friends, who seemed entertained by her and kept refilling her cup. Bella began to keep a closer eye on her. She’d invited her, after all. She felt responsible if something were to happen to her. 

After a couple drinks, Bella stopped worrying if she looked out of place, and just began enjoying watching the crowd. Maybe parties weren’t so awful after all. No one seemed to mind when she jumped in a conversation, and drunk sorority girls were more than eager to tell her they thought she was pretty, which she found amusing. Jessica had left for the bathroom at some point to throw up, and returned to keep drinking. Bella made sure she had some water. 

This was when she began to notice a new presence in the party. People had been filtering in and out all night, but this guy stood out to her. His eyes were a vomit-ish shade of green, and they stood out against his otherwise handsome features. He went from group to group of girls, chatting briefly with each one. They didn’t seem to mind, and in fact seem disappointed when he left to talk to someone new, but something about him made the hair on Bella’s neck stand on end. He moved on to Jessica’s group. 

“Bella!” A familiar voice called from behind her, sending a chill down her back, and Bella turned to be face-to-face with Edythe.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, angrily. 

“I… wanted to make sure you were okay.” Bella had never seen Edythe look embarrassed before.

“What are you, my babysitter? My mom?” Bella leaned into the anger. It was easier with alcohol in her system. “I’m fine. Didn’t you know stalking is creepy?”

“I’m sorry, I--” Edythe stammered, but Bella turned away.

“Don’t worry. I think I’m going to leave anyway.” She looked for Jessica in the crowd. How had she disappeared in such a short time? “Excuse me.”

Edythe grabbed her wrist, but Bella pulled away. She held her cold wrist in her other hand while she looked for Jessica, trying to ignore the fact that Edythe was tailing her. She decided that maybe girls weren’t better than boys after all.

She pushed through the crowd in the kitchen, and to her surprise she managed to lose Edythe. That’s when she found Jacob. 

“Hey, have you seen Jessica?” She asked him. He blinked.

“Um, yeah, I think she went outside.” He pointed to the back door of the house. She handed him her drink, which he downed on frat-boy-induced instinct, and she headed outside. 

There weren’t too many people in the backyard. A couple of frat boys were making out sloppily. Someone was crouched in the grass, obviously trying not to vomit. One girl was smoking weed and staring at the tree tops. 

Bella began to go back inside, thinking that Jacob had been wrong, when she heard a scream from the woods. She knew at once that it was Jessica.

Heroism or drunken idiocy convinced Bella to run in that direction. There was a well-worn path leading through the kudzu-choked woods, but that didn’t stop Bella from tripping a couple of times over roots and rocks. 

She finally found herself in a clearing littered with beer cans, with a firepit in the middle, and across the open space was the man she’d seen earlier, pressing Jessica up against a tree while she struggled. His free hand was groping her crotch. 

Bella grabbed a rock off of the ground and lobbed it at him, which went wide. “Oy!” She screamed.

When he turned, she saw the blood on his face and on Jess’s neck. He smiled and dropped Jess, who fell to the ground, writhing.

“Well. I love when the toys come to me.”

“Leave her alone,” Bella said, her voice cracking. “You’re outnumbered.” The man just laughed. She grabbed another rock off of the ground. 

“Now, now.” In a flash the man had crossed the clearing and both hands were around her arm. Before she could even struggle, he bent her elbow backwards until she heard a rip and pain flooded through her. 

She fell to the ground, screaming in pain. When she was finally in control of herself again, she blinked through tears to see the man watching her with a sadistic grin on his face.

This was how she was going to die. Her vision faded in and out, and she tried to lean into it. Better die unconscious than awake and in agony.

That was, until, a fourth person entered the clearing. Bella saw the man’s grin fade away to terror. She blinked, and when her vision was clear again, she saw Edythe crouching over Jessica. 

“Fuck,” Edythe hissed. She turned and threw Bella a jacket. “Put pressure on your wound. Close your eyes and try not to faint. I need you to be able to walk out of here.”

Too dazed to do anything else, Bella obeyed. She could hear Edythe shifting Jessica, who was whimpering. 

“Okay, okay, fuck,” Edythe said after a few minutes. “Bella?” Bella opened her eyes. Edythe had picked up Jessica,who was pale in her arms, while still applying pressure to her neck. “Time to walk out of here. I’ve called 911.” 

Bella nodded and stood. Edythe came over and let her steady herself on her shoulder, before they began their slow walk out of the woods. Sure enough, Bella could see the ambulance lights out in front of the house. The partygoers were all frozen, staring at them in shock. Jacob broke through the crowd.

“Bella, oh my god.” He ran to her, and she collapsed in his arms. “I’ve got you now. Let’s get to the ambulance.” He tried to pick her up, but she was too heavy, so he settled on just letting her sling her good arm around him while he put pressure on her injury.


	11. Sunhigh (Part 2)

The ambulance ride was a blur of activity and questions that Bella answered as well as she could. Edythe had somehow managed to convince her way onto the ambulance, and she was sitting in the corner, her fingernails digging into her own skin as she looked anywhere but the two injured women. 

When they got to the hospital, Edythe went with Jess’s gurney, but once Bella had been settled into a bed, and her wound stitched and cleaned, she showed up again. 

“Hey. Can I come in?”

“Yeah,” Bella croaked. She sat up a bit, and Edythe walked over to the head of her bed to prop up her pillows. 

“How’s your arm?”

“Stitches from his fingernails, and he ripped the tendons pretty thoroughly.” She winced thinking about it. “How are you?”

“I’m not hurt.” Edythe’s ruby red eyes shifted uneasily from Bella.

“Wait.” Bella squinted. “What happened to your eyes?”

“Contacts. I’ve been wearing them all party?”

Bella honestly couldn’t recall. “How are you not hurt? What did you do to scare him?”

“Can of pepper spray. He ran out of there the second he saw it.” 

“And Jess?”

Edythe fiddled with the edge of the sheet, her bright eyes not meeting Bella’s. “She’ll be okay, I think. She's in intensive care because she lost a lot of blood. He cut up her throat pretty bad. I’m amazed she’s not dead.”

Things still didn’t add up to Bella. She leaned forward to really look at Edythe. There was a tiny bit of blood she’d missed on her chin. “How did you get blood there?”

Edythe stepped away abruptly. “Jess’s blood sprayed me while I was trying to apply pressure.”

“Oh.” Jess’s neck hadn’t been spraying blood when she’d arrived in the clearing. “Did you know who that was?”

“No.” 

A single word had never sounded more like a blatant lie to Bella. She pushed off of the pillows with her one good arm. “I’m not fragile, Edythe. What really happened? Why did you tell me not to go to the party?”

Edythe closed her eyes, her body statue-still. “I can’t tell you.”

“Edythe-” Bella began.

“Your dad’s here. I’ve got to go.” Before Bella could speak again, she’d disappeared.

Sure enough, Charlie charged through the door, his eyes wild. “Oh god, Bella, I’m so glad you’re alright.” Bella grimaced, and he sat down on the chair next to her. “More or less. What happened?”

Bella did her best to explain, carefully leaving out any mention of alcohol so he could pretend like it wasn’t present. By the end of it, Charlie was completely lost in thought.

“A man, who no one knows, coming to a party just to prey on college age girls…” He clenched his jaw.

 _Except for maybe Edythe,_ Bella thought. “Did they catch him?”

“No. But the police are still searching the area.” Charlie looked as if he’d rather be out there, hunting him down himself. 

“Did anyone tell Mom?”

“Not yet.” Charlie looked ashamed. “Your mother has a tendency to overreact, and since she wasn’t listed as your emergency contact, her boyfriend was…”

“No no no, that’s good.” All Renee would do was over-react and fly all the way up here. Bella looked around for her phone. “I need to text her boyfriend and tell him I’m okay and not to worry her about me.” 

“I’ll track down your phone.” He stood back up. “In the meantime, there’s a boy in the waiting room who’s worried sick about you. Said he helped you to the ambulance. Do you want him to come up and visit?”

 _Jacob._ “Sure.”


	12. Sunhigh (Part 3)

Bella closed her eyes when he left, and had nearly drifted off to sleep when Jacob showed up. His floral shirt had been ruined by her blood and his big dark eyes were wide with worry. 

“Bells, dear Lord.” He looked unsure of what was socially acceptable to do in this situation, and she motioned for him to sit. He perched awkwardly on the edge of the bed.

“I’m okay Jake, promise.” He didn’t look like he believed her.

“This is my fault,” he said with tears in his eyes. “Y’all are new to this. I should’ve never left you alone.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“That’s the pain meds talking.”

“Please don’t beat yourself up over this.” She tried to reach over to him with her injured arm and winced in pain. He put his hand on top of hers. He was warm.  _ Warm… _

Edythe’s hand had been ice cold. She hadn’t put it together until just now, but she was sure she was right. How had Edythe gotten over to Jess so fast? Why had there been blood on the man’s face? Something wasn’t adding up.

“Where’d you go?” Jacob asked, pulling her out of contemplation. He squeezed her hand. It felt… nice. There was a better word for the feeling, but Bella's thoughts were moving through molasses.

“I feel like I’m missing something,” she said. His brow furrowed. 

“You didn’t get hit in the head, right?” He asked hesitantly.

She shook her head. “No concussion, they checked. It’s probably just the painkillers.” 

He chuckled.  At that moment, her dad walked back into the room. Jacob pulled his hand away.


	13. Sunhigh (Part 4)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm updating from my parent's house, where the internet is shit. Apologies if the formatting is weird! This is a chapter from Edythe's perspective.

“GOD. FUCKING. DAMMIT!” Edythe yelled. She grabbed a cup out of the cabinet and shattered it against a wall.

“I just replaced those, Eddie,” Carlisle said calmly. 

“No one here drinks out of them. And you can buy another set,” Edythe snapped. She threw another glass. 

Carlisle sighed. “None of this was your fault.” He meant it, too. But Edythe still wasn’t convinced.

“I should’ve stopped her. I should’ve stopped her from going.” Edythe paced back and forth like a caged animal. 

Edythe felt Carlisle push away thoughts of his old love, who had died in a car crash. “You don’t own her, Eddie. She went there of her own volition. You did the best you could.”

“No, I didn’t. I should’ve explained.” She sat on the counter and rested her head in her hands. 

“It’s against the rules to tell her. You know that.” Carlisle sat next to her and hesitantly placed a hand on her back. His thoughts were with the Volturi, and his fear of them as a younger vampire.

“She nearly died.” 

“You saved her.” 

“I didn’t save Jessica.”

“Jessica will be alright.” 

Edythe hopped off the counter. “If you call being cursed for eternity ‘alright’”. To her satisfaction, she felt the guilt roll off of Carlisle in waves. 

“Edythe--”

“I’m going to go hunt. I’ve got to clear this--” she waved her hand at her bright red eyes-- “as soon as possible. Bella’s already suspicious.”

“Take Ray and Emmett with you.”

“Carlisle--” Edythe began to complain, but she saw his fears--Edythe, in her rage, forgetting her target. Killing a camper instead of the bear stealing their trash. Maybe he was right. She paused and counted to ten. “Sure.” Edythe left to go retrieve her siblings.


End file.
